After all of our family travels you could ask any of my six kids where their favorite place to visit was and they all would have the same answer…. LAKE POWELL!! There is never a second guess. They absolutely love this vacation. It all started three years ago when my oldest sister “K” invited our little family of eight to join her family along with about fifteen other people on her seven bedroom house boat. She likes to do it right. This is no small affair. Her boat “All Out Fun” is exactly that… all out fun! We couldn’t have enjoyed our week more.

Our home away from home for the week, “Bucket List”Lake Powell, Arizona July 2013

Getting to Lake Powell is the biggest challenge for us. Located about eleven hundred miles from San Antonio we have never chosen to drive. It really isn’t close to any airports and the local small craft airport is a little bit pricey to fly into, so we have always flown into Salt Lake City and drive the three hundred and seventy miles down to Page Arizona. “K”’s boat is docked at Antelope Point Marina just outside of Page Arizona. It is a beautiful facility that tries to cater to every boat enthusiasts needs.

The beautiful Lake Powell in all its glory!Lake Powell, Arizona July 2013

Trent just hanging out on the back of the houseboat watching the kids in the water.Lake Powell, Arizona July 2013

Located just off the back of the boat the kids had a great place to playLake Powell, Arizona July 2013

Every time we’ve arrived at Antelope Point we are directed to unload our car and we are shuttled down the floating docks to the the houseboat in golf carts or gators. This is usually the most hectic part of the trip since everyone arrives at different hours of the day, there is very poor AT&T cell phone coverage at this marina, and making sure all of our stuff makes it safely to the house boat can be a little unnerving. However this small stress is quickly outweighed by a weeks worth of lounging, and fun.

Our hosts the “A’s” So gracious and accommodating. We love being on their boat!Lake Powell, Arizona July 2013

Packing up The Bucket List! It is quite a chore to get ready!Lake Powell, Arizona July 2013

Our most current stay at Lake Powell was hosted by my sister “K”’s bestie “A” and her family the “A”’s. Their boat “Bucket List” was just as amazing as my sisters boat. We feel very lucky to continue to be invited for this week of fun. Once we arrive to the houseboat we are directed to our room which is a small room with a queen sized mattress on the floor. Our room also has a little “cutty” which is a smaller room that is about three feet in height and has another queen sized mattress. We are pretty lucky to get two rooms to ourselves. This is perfect to sleep Trent and myself and the small “cutty” is perfect for my three little girls. The teens and tweens are split up by gender and sleep on the upper decks of the house boat. There are some serious rules in place by our hosts, and co-mingling of genders is never allowed, (even if there is a complete bug infestation after a bad rain storm, but that’s another story).

The teens having a little afternoon breakLake Powell, Arizona July 2013

These three girls had a blast wake boarding and Bella even gave wake surfing a try with the help of Uncle “M”Lake Powell, Arizona July 2013

These girls were having too much fun as we were basically abandoned by the teens and tweensLake Powell, Arizona July 2013

The six full days that are spent on Lake Powell are full of many of the same activity options. Of course there is boating and all that that entails. We usually do wake boarding, skiing (maybe just the old foggies), tubing, and wake-surfing. Then there is the trampoline with the launch pad that the “A” family sets up, there’s the “princess island” for lounging and sunning and listening to music, four jet skis for fun cavern exploration, two kayaks, and a paddle board. Am I forgetting anything? Besides the toys that are brought we also go on hikes, explore in the boats, go rock climbing, cliff jumping, and have a mid week picnic on the boats in some remote location. We play games at night with the kids, or just adults, we have a talent show, a dance party and without a doubt its always someones birthday so we celebrate that.

Its not every day you see a pink boat on the water!Lake Powell, Arizona July 2013

Colton gets his turn on a jet ski with Aunt “C”Lake Powell, Arizona July 2013

Our friend “M” chills out on one of the kayaksLake Powell, Arizona July 2013

Clay and Leah enjoying some time on the paddle boardLake Powell, Arizona July 2013

For food we have a rolling schedule and each family is usually just assigned one breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Everyone brings enough food to feed the crowd and its always way too much! We never lack for food and the food is always amazing. Everyone puts so much effort into making amazing meals that its hard to ever get hungry while at Lake Powell. We try, believe me we try, but at 9am, 1pm and 6:30pm everyday our stomachs are filled with deliciousness!

Yes there were a couple arm wrestling contest by Bailey and good friend “A”Lake Powell, Arizona July 2013

Food, Fun and Friends no wonder these kids love being on the lakeLake Powell, Arizona July 2013

I think my kids very favorite part of the week is that we are all unplugged and we do so much talking with each other. It is the closest we come to camping! We have time to talk about everything and anything. With the multiple families on board there is still fun with other friends (some just made on the boat on the first day) but we still have our family there to bond with twenty four hours a day for seven whole days. With the other families our kids don’t get too sick of us and they each learn from one another.

This girl is all smiles when we are at Lake Powell!Arizona, July 2013

On the “A”’s boat there is a rule that all of the teenagers have to clean up after every meal. That means all the prep dishes and everything. This last Powell trip there were eight teenagers and one tween on board and I never had to do any dishes. I didn’t take out any trash and I think the kids had their work ethic tested.

The girls doing a jump for joy as the hiked up the side of a rock formationLake Powell, Arizona July 2013

The boys show off with a little cliff jumpingLake Powell, Arizona July 2013

Trent and Leah decided to explore some of the nature holes in the rocksLake Powell, Arizona July 2013

After a week of togetherness and a crazy dance party to end the last evening on the boat we were all sad to say goodbye. The last morning the anchors are pulled and we left Last Chance Bay at six am. It’s a three hour house boat ride back to the marina but that gives us all plenty of time to sleep in a little, pack up, and do a little cleaning. The “A”’s have a great service that comes in a cleans the house boat from forward to aft and that is something we all appreciate. Of course the packing starts the day before with the jet skis mounted on back, princess island and the trampoline with launch pad deflated and dried out for storage. The tubes, lifejackets, and boating equipment is counted and stored and any trace that we were docked at our cliff side is erased as best as possible.

Pretty fun talent show with lots of talent shownLake Powell, Arizona July 2013

Let the dance party begin. Nothing like having a party that includes 6-69 year olds!Lake Powell, Arizona July 2013

This year we leave Powell with memories of lively dance moves, great runs on the wakeboard on glass like water, a skit on how to make a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich, a rook tournament, a few games of Mafia that confirms my thoughts that all teenagers are great liars, pyramids on tubes, a fireworks show that could have competed with any small town, good friends, great stories, awesome food, hearty laughs, and funny dances moves by the teen boys while drying dishes to the Cupid shuffle. Its the closest thing I’ve ever found that mimics the Kellerman Family Camp in the movie Dirty Dancing. Something I always wanted to do with my family as a child and I’m grateful to have a chance to do something similar to it, with my children and husband, as a mother.

I love to travel the world with my family. Some destinations have been amazing, others just mediocre but with this group it is almost always hilarious. I hope I can share with you what I've gleaned during our travels. The do's, the don'ts, and the I'm sure you can get away with it, moments. If you have any awesome places you've been, tell me about them so I can add it to my bucket list. As always safe and happy travels!

About Us

I love to travel the world with my family. Some destinations have been amazing, others just mediocre but with this group it is almost always hilarious. I hope I can share with you what I’ve gleaned during our travels. The do’s, the don’ts, and the I’m sure you can get away with it, moments. If you have any awesome places you’ve been, tell me about them so I can add it to my bucket list. As always safe and happy travels!